Return of the Lost Son
by EC1231
Summary: Before many of the current Naruto characters were born, a stranger appeared out of the shadows of the forest near Konoha. Read what happened on the night the Kyuubi attacked the village.Leave your reviews positive or negative so I can see what's working
1. Back to the Beginning

Part 1

The sun was setting on the lush, green plains of Konoha, when he stepped out of the shadows of the forest. Donning a dusty blue cape, he pulled the fallen hood tighter over his head, covering his face once again. He stood in the receding sunlight, taking in the familiar sights and smells of the valley. With the coming night, he realized he was going to miss the way the sunlight filled his bones and warmed the blood flowing through his body. The night was cold and unfeeling, like so many things about Konoha. When the cool, night air finally crept up his leg, the shinobi quickly and quietly slipped back into the darkness of the woods.

In a flash, he was off the ground and jumping through the trees. He kept his eyes and ears open for any unnatural sounds that would spoil his return home. Being this close to the village gates, it would not be a surprise if he were to run into a team of chuunin training in the woods or a pervert like Jiraiya "researching." It would be a terrible disappointment if his visit was spoiled by his own carelessness. But, then again, he was anxious to get back into the village while the night was still young, so he threw his cautions to the wind and continued on his way.

It had been 5 long, hate-filled years since he had stepped foot in Konoha. During that time, he had traveled through the great countries like a beggar, scavenging off the land and sleeping wherever the shadows were darkest. The hardest part was traveling alone, but friends were a luxury that missing nins could not afford. But even if he wasn't a missing nin, friends were something that the gods had deemed him unworthy of. Still, he would have enjoyed the company of another person, someone to talk to, someone to laugh with. If only he could have convinced Namiko to come with him. At least then, the years might have been enjoyable, but when the two of them were together, nothing was certain.

He continued to fly through the trees until he reached his destination – the gates of Konoha. Should he risk going through them or should he follow a more discreet path over the walls? After 5 years, he was probably a distant memory in the minds of most of the villagers, a reminder of the sacrifices that had to be made during the times of war. Life was funny this way. When he was young, he would pray every night that the villagers would stop turning their backs on him and welcome him like a friend. Now, he would like nothing better. The black hole of emotion that was his childhood would only help his cause, but only if he could tap into it and slip into the village unnoticed.

"Let's hope things are still the same," he mumbled to himself as he jumped down from a tree at the edge of the forest. He gathered his cloak closer to him, pulling is aged hood tighter to his face, once again casting it in shadows. Casually, he made his way down the dirt road that led to the gates. To the average passerby, he looked like another road-weary traveler looking for a place to eat and a bed to rest his head for the night. Most didn't give him a second glance, and even the ones who did, let him continue on his way. If only they knew the plans he had in store for their precious village, the façade of peace and tranquility would be broken like a fragile piece of glass. He assured himself that once he set his plans in motion, Konoha would never be the same again.


	2. The Young Genius

Part 2

"Remember to mind your manners and respect the village, stranger," someone called out to him.

Kenichi turned slightly to see a grinning guard at the gate.

"Hmpf…manners and respect are two things Konoha knows nothing about," he thought to himself as he made his way through the village's busy streets. If all it took was a reminder from a lackey standing at the gates to remind the villagers of manners and respect, he might not have had to run away from Konoha. On the bright side, if they weren't cold and rude to him 5 years ago, he wouldn't have the pleasure of enacting his revenge now. "I'll make them pay for everything. No one will be spared from my wrath, not a villager, not a shinobi."

There was one person, however, who would be exempt from his retribution, the one person who made his time in the village worth the looks and whispers -- Namiko. And if he could convince her to leave Konoha with him, maybe he would put off his plans for the time being. Yes, if she came with him, they could travel across the country together, settle down outside another village, and raise a family together. She was the only reason that he was bothering with this undercover venture. Without her, he would have started his plan as soon as he saw the gates. Now, the only thing to do was to make his way to her house and drop in for a quick hello.

Luckily for him, things had not changed much since he left. Stores were still stores, selling the same trinkets; homes were still homes, sheltering the same spoiled villagers. If his memory was right, he would be at her front door very soon. But then, an unexpected yet familiar and tantalizing aroma filled his nose, triggering memories of deep bowls of steaming pork ramen. He followed the smell until he had tracked it to its source – Ichiraku Ramen Bar.

"I have time for a quick bite," he said to himself as he pulled out one of the stools and sat. In all his travels, he had never come across a ramen shop that matched Ichiraku, and he made a quick mental note that Ichiraku might be another fortunate soul that would not feel his vengeance. "One bowl of pork ramen, sir," he called out from under his hood, careful to not reveal himself just yet.

"Yes, right away, stranger," the owner replied while simultaneously preparing the food.

"Make that two bowls, Teuchi-san," another voice said.

"Ah yes, Kakashi. No training today?"

"Not today. We have," Kakashi started to say before he thought better, "um excuse me, I have other matters to take care of."

The stranger peeked out from under his dusty blue cape to sneak a quick look at the newcomer, only to meet his glance, literally eye to eye. From what he could see, the boy was in his early teens but with hair as gray as someone's grandfather. He wore his forehead protector angled, so that it covered one of his eyes, and the neck of his shirt was pulled up that it covered the lower half of his face. While he couldn't be sure, something inside told him that the teen was no ordinary teen and more dangerous than he let on. As much as he tried, it was a feeling he could not shake. He slowly returned to looking down at the counter top, and decided he no longer felt like having ramen while that boy, skilled or not, was sitting with him.

"Thank you for you hospitality, sir, but I must get going," The stranger shot another quick glance at the gray-haired teen, and found him to be nose deep in a book, oblivious to the world around him. "But, if he wants, please give my order to this young man. After all, a growing shinobi needs his protein."

The stranger put down enough money to cover his tab and the boy's. The boy turned to the stranger, and although the mask hid the lower part of his face, the stranger could tell he was smiling. He then resumed reading his book.

The stranger left the ramen shop and continued on his journey to Namiko's.


	3. Namiko's Surprise

Part 3

The stranger turned down the final street that would lead him to Namiko's home. He was in luck because in the window he could see a candle burning. He discreetly moved closer to the house, careful to not appear too sneaky. Now was not the time to be mistaken for a theif and have the Konoha police chasing him. There would be plenty of time for that later, but not now.

He continued to creep closer to the lighted window until he was almost sitting on its sill. The stranger positioned himself in the shadows, where he felt most comfortable, and watched eagerly through the window.

There Namiko sat, rocking back and forth in an old, wooden chair. She was smiling to herself, and whistling a soft tune while she knitted a small blanket that was already long enough to cover a small boy. Namiko was as beautiful as the day he left the village, and he would have been content to stay in the shadows and watch her for the rest of night, but he couldn't. He was there for a reason, and he couldn't spend the entire night peeping through her window.

He moved to her door, quietly opened it, and quickly stepped inside. "Namiko," he said softly, "I've come back."

There was a gasp, and the clatter of knitting needles on the floor. Namiko sat motionless with her eyes fixed on the stranger cloaked in a blue cape standing in her doorway. The cape was similar to one she had sewn for an old love, except more ragged and beaten up, as if it had been abandoned in the street. The stranger's face was still hidden under the hood of the cape, but slowly he pulled it back. She didn't need to see his face because as soon as she heard his voice, she knew who it was.

"Kenichi," she whispered as his hood fell back to reveal the same straw-colored hair she remembered. She reached up timidly to touch the bearded face of her former love, just to make sure that it was real and not just a memory coming back to haunt her.

"Yes, Namiko. I have come back for you."

"Kenichi, what are you doing here? You are an outlaw and the ANBU have been looking for you since the day you left. Why did you come back?"

"I came back for you. I came to take you from Konoha so that we can be together, away from the scum of this village. We can travel to a far away country, just me and you, and settle down to raise a family."

"Kenichi, I can't go with you. You left me and the village behind 5 years ago. It's too late for us. Too many things have changed."

"It's not too late because I still love you. That much hasn't changed in 5 years and it would never change in 500."

"Too many things have changed," Namiko cried out as she stood up, letting the half finished blanket fall. Then Kenichi's eyes slowly moved down her body until they stopped on the bulge from her belly. From the size, it was obvious that Namiko was pregnant, at least 8 months so. The last bit of love he felt for Konoha was destroyed, upon seeing the only woman he had ever loved carrying the seed of another man.

"No, no, no," he whimpered as he moved closer to Namiko,"Who? Who did this to you?"

"No one did this to me," Namiko said, turning her back to Kenichi's outstretched hand, and focusing her gaze out her window. "After you left, I was alone and in sorry state. But as bad as I was, there was someone who was even more devastated when you left. Naturally, we gravitated towards each other, mutually consoling each other. As hard as I took your leaving, your brother took it twice as hard. We spent a lot of time together, talking about you, wondering where you were, if you were all right, or if you'd ever come back. We both realized that we would need to move on, and soon our conversations moved from wondering about you to wondering about us. It took years before anything became of our friendship, but when it happened, we both accepted it as inevitable."

"So the baby that you carry now is…"

"Yes, he is your nephew," Namiko said, "the Yondaime's son."


	4. The ANBU Appear

Part 4

The sudden revelation that his former love was now carrying the seed of his brother was too much for Kenichi to handle. He could feel a disgustingly sickening feeling crawling around the pit of his stomach. His legs felt weak, and his heart raced feverishly. He stumbled back, away from the woman he loved, away from the woman who had betrayed him. Namiko turned to face him, fighting back her own of tears as she moved to console him.

"I'm sorry Kenichi, but I am no longer the woman you left behind. Please, go before the ANBU learn that you're here in the village."

And as if a bolt of lightning had flashed in his mind, everything became clear. Konoha, and everything it stood for, had to pay. They took away his life, his family, and lastly his love. "There will be no mercy for anyone," Kenichi thought as he turned and ran out of Namiko's house. He would bring forth a wrath that only a god could summon and wipe out everything that was Konoha.

He ran through the streets of Konoha blindly, still in a rage over discovering his bother's betrayal when he found himself in a dead end alley between a pair of houses. He turned around to retrace his steps when, suddenly, a hooded figure wearing a cat-like mask appeared in front of him. Kenichi recognized it as one of the animal-inspired masks that the ANBU wore to hide their identities. The cat-faced ANBU stood motionless in front of Kenichi, and Kenichi quickly understood why. Soon he noticed the growing presence of ANBU members surrounding him. Even though he couldn't see them, he could feel their presence all around him, their stares coming from the rooftop shadows, burning holes into his body.

"Kenichi Uzumaki. You are hereby placed under arrest by the Konoha village for treason. Please do not attempt to flee or resist, or we will be forced to kill you," came a familiar voice from behind the mask.

"Oh really? Under arrest for treason? I didn't know you could betray a country that didn't want you to begin with?" Kenichi slyly snickered back.

"Whatever your complaints are, you will have a chance to voice them after you come with us."

"Is that how you treat a long lost son of the village? Even after that son has fed you from his own plate? Kakashi, right? Judging by your looks, I would have to guess Sakumo Hatake's son. My, my, how the children of Konoha take after their elders. I guess you could call it a gift and a curse." He chuckled to himself as he uttered the last comment.

"The identity of your captors should be the last thing on the minds of traitorous scum who abandon their village and friends in a time of war"

"Friends? If you understood my history with Konoha, you wouldn't dare use words like that in my presence," And with the speed of a demon, Kenichi reached down, and sent a kunai flying at the ANBU member with whom earlier in the night he had shared his dinner. The hooded figure in front of him didn't even have a chance evade or draw his own weapon, as the kunai imbedded itself deep into his forehead.


	5. The Fiery Grave

Part 5

The ANBU who had been blocking Kenichi's escape, stood motionless with the kunai sticking out of his head. Then, poof! The kunai clattered to the floor as the body that it had only seconds ago been impaled in, vanished in a cloud of white smoke.

"And speaking of friends," Kenichi started, obviously unsurprised by the little illusion he had just witnessed, "why don't you and yours come down and play."

With that, the four ANBU jumped down from the roof tops, all throwing their kunai at the stranger standing in the middle of the road. As quickly as he shot his own kunai at the clone in front of him, Kenichi pulled out another one, and deflected all four enemy kunai away from him. He stood among the pack of hunters, calm and pensive, while they maneuvered themselves around him.

Suddenly, two of the ANBU, one wearing a bear-inspired mask, and the other wearing a dog-inspired mask, made their move and lunged at Kenichi in a coordinated strike. One went low, sweeping his kunai along the ground, while the other went straight for Kenichi's neck.

"Wind Release: Spinning Vortex Wall jutsu!" shouted Kenichi.

Before either ANBU's kunai could touch Kenichi, a spiraling tube of wind surrounded his body and expanded outward until it held both attacking ANBU in its clutches. Ripped from the ground, they spun round and round, faster and faster, until the spinning vortex stopped abruptly, sending both attackers flying through the crisp night air. They crashed into a solid brick wall just behind the remaining 2 ANBU officers with a thunderous "BOOM!" almost destroying the structure with the force of their impact. The only sounds that came out of the dusty holes were their barely audible groans of pain.

"Damn…#2, you tend to #3 and #4," an unfamiliar voiced barked from under the monkey-inspired ANBU mask, directing Kakashi to aid his fallen comrades. "Check their injuries and stabilize them, if you can. I'll try to hold him off, but I need you in the fight as soon as you're done." With that, the lead ANBU charged Kenichi.

He leaped into the air and hoping to take advantage of his elevated position, he launched a set of kunai at the dangerous fugitive below. With the graceful steps of a master shinobi, Kenichi dodged them, allowing the 3 weapons to plant harmlessly in the ground behind them. But Kenichi soon realized his mistake when he heard the unmistakable sound of a burning explosive tag. He turned to see not 3, but 4 kunai sticking out of the ground. That tricky ANBU had hidden the tagged kunai in the shadow of the one of the other kunai, blocking Kenichi's view of it.

Kenichi barely had time to raise his arms over his face when the tag exploded into a fireball, throwing him away from blast and into the path of the incoming ANBU's uppercut. The punch sent Kenichi somersaulting through the air. The monkey-faced ANBU saw an opening, and used it to activate his own jutsu.

"Fiery Tombstone jutsu!" He yelled, as Kenichi's body hit the ground a couple of feet away.

A glowing, red circle that grew brighter by the second formed around Kenichi's limp body, and with a "ROAR!" it erupted into a 6-foot-high, geyser of flame, completely engulfing Kenichi in its core.


	6. 3 Down, 1 To Go

Part 6

To use his Kunai Camoflage and Fiery Tombstone jutsus took a lot out of the monkey-faced ANBU. He collapsed to one knee, panting heavily, and squinting into the haziness. The flames had finally died down and the smoke had started to part, when to the surprise of the ANBU, all that remained at the center of the charred circle was a badly burnt log.

"I can see the skill of the ANBU is still a force to be reckoned with," Kenichi's voice called out from the darkness. "Tactics like that may win you chuunin battles, but you are only embarrassing yourself if you think I would get caught by that. A real shinobi leaves his enemy no exits and no chance for escape. Allow me to show how a real shinobi disposes of trash. SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"

The tired ANBU tried to focus in on the voice in order to decipher its location, but it soon became clear that Kenichi wasn't dumb enough to stay in the same place while he talked. He rose to his feet, still trying to regain his breath and composure from the last attack, when he heard something that made his hair stand on edge.

"Wind Release: Shark Fin jutsu!" came the simultaneous call of what appeared to be 5 shinobi, all of whom were surrounding the monkey-faced ANBU. From 5 separate rooftop points, a glowing white light flashed, and shot through the air at an incredible pace, gathering more speed as they neared their monkey-faced target. As the forms got nearer, the ANBU was able to see them clearly. They were 4-feet-high and triangular, like the fins of a massive shark sticking out of the water, torpedoing itself at some helpless prey. As they got closer still, he could make out the spiraling air currents that gave form to the jutsu. If he didn't get out of their way, there was no doubt that this would be his last night as a Konoha shinobi.

Thinking quickly, he spiked a smoke bomb at his feet, hiding himself in the black-blue cloud, at least temporarily, from the watchful eyes of the clones. Then, at the last second, he made a desperate leap to avoid the incoming fins. They crashed into each other creating an awesome chakra explosion that further catapulted him into the air. Looking down at the newly-formed crater, he breathed a sigh of relief as he imagined the potential damage that the destructive power of that jutsu would have inflicted on him if he had not moved in time. "He really is a monster," the airborne ANBU thought to himself.

Unfortunately, taking the time to examine the damage below turned out to be a big mistake because above him loomed the descending forms of the 4 Kenichi clones. The ANBU didn't even realize what had hit him when the 4 clones came down fist-first on the back of his head. If he had had time to see it coming, he would have been in awe at the power that Kenichi was able to summon from within himself.

The ANBU sailed back to the ground like a human kunai, hitting the earth with a thud. He had barely gotten his bearings, when he witnessed the last thing he would see and hear that night. The 4 clones that had sent him hurtling into the ground were no longer in sight. Instead, floating in the moonlight over him, was a solitary figure in a blue cape that flapped wilding in the night air.

"Wind Release: Spinning Air Bullet justu!" the figure called out, and from his mouth came a glowing chakra form that grew as it exited until it was the size of a small wagon. The final shape of the chakra was a wide crescent and when it hit the fallen ANBU, a massive dust cloud erupted from the earth, leaving behind a crater with only a limp, barely alive body at its center.


	7. Kakashi's Revenge

Part 7

Kakashi was able the treat his two fallen comrades while his squad leader dealt with the fugitive. He had stabilized their injuries for now, but they were in desperate need of a medical nin. Unfortunately for his squad leader, Kakashi did not return to the battle soon enough. He made it back just in time to catch the conclusive blow being dealt to his teammate, a massive, crescent-shaped energy wave that hit the ground like bomb. The blast alone blew away so much dirt and debris that Kakashi had a hard time seeing what was going on at its center.

When the dust finally cleared away, he was able to make out two distinct forms. One was lying still on ground, and the other stood over him, kunai in hand, prepped to deal the final blow. Motivated by the desire to protect those close to him, Kakashi reached down for his own kunai and throwing stars, determined to force the lethal nin to retreat, if only for a short time. He launched his weapons at Kenichi, who sensed them, yet barely managed to dodge them.

Kenichi had wanted to let the teen save his downed teammate, so he purposely delayed his killing blow until the teen was in a position to do something. He could have killed the monkey-faced ANBU as soon as he had landed, but he wanted to see how a Konoha shinobi reacted when he was in the presence of an obviously superior shinobi. Had they learned the value of friendship? Had they evolved their principles since his days there and learned to risk their safety to save those close to them? It would appear that they had, judging by the young ANBU's selfless, yet futile attempt, to save his teammate.

"I should have expected no less from the Hokage's brother," Kakashi stated in a calm, matter-of-fact tone. "To have single-handedly immobilized an ANBU unit takes a great deal of skill. But your threat to Konoha ends now."

Kenichi smiled to himself, impressed by the serene bravado that this young man showed, as well as his obvious concern for his teammate. The stock of Konoha really had improved because people like this were non-existent when he was growing up.

"I cannot and will not allow you to hurt another member of Konoha," Kakashi continued. "These are my friends, my family, and if it requires me to personally escort you the gates of hell, I will make sure that your time in this world ends tonight! Earth Release: Inner Decapitation jutsu!"

Kenichi was startled when he felt a pair of hands gripping his ankles. His surprise continued to grow when the hands pulled him down until the dirt floor was up to his chin.

"That tricky little Kakashi," Kenichi thought to himself. "When did he create a shadow clone? I was right to suspect him to be extraordinary."

"Your time ends now," said Kakashi. Widening his stance, he performed a unique set of hand-signs that Kenichi had never seen before. "CHIDORI!" Kakashi called out as a blue light of crackling electricity sprouted from his hand. To Kenichi, it was as if he was in the forest, surrounded by hundreds of birds, the chirping was so loud.

Kakashi raced forward, ready to decapitate the head the jutted out from the ground with one clean strike. The glow from the Chidori shone on Kenichi's face as Kakashi drew nearer. He pulled back his hand to steady it for the death blow, and when he was within arms reach, he shot his crackling, deadly hand at the face of the trapped fugitive.


	8. Reversal of Fortune

The incoming Chidori would surely be the end of Kenichi's plan, but he remained calm and stoic the entire time he was trapped in the earth, never even making an attempt to escape. When the glowing, blue jutsu was within seconds of leaving a hole where his face once was, Kenichi whispered to himself, in a voice so low that Kakashi would not have heard it, even if he was standing next to him, "Rasengan."

The ground that was in front of Kenichi's face blew out in a torrent of earth and dirt, as a spinning blue orb of chakra shot out and met the incoming Chidori head-on. Even behind the cat-inspired ANBU mask, Kenichi could feel the shock and awe on Kakashi's face.

The two high-powered jutsu met with a titantic crash, and it seemed that this collision would end in draw. But then the Rasengan started to grow. At first it fit compactly into Kenichi's palm, but as more chakra was pumped into it, the orb grew and grew until it completely overwhelmed Kakashi's Chidori. The resulting bright blue explosion sent Kakashi flying backward through the air. The last thought that passed through Kakashi's mind before he hit the solid brick wall of a nearby house was, "Incredible…"

The blast had also removed enough of the ground that had entrapped Kenichi so that he was able to use his hands. "Wind Release: Spinning Vortex Wall jutsu," he called out, and once again a glowing tube of wind encompassed his body and expanded outward, consequently digging him out of the ground completely. He slowly climbed out of his newly excavated hole, and walked towards Kakashi.

Kakashi was leaning against the wall of the house he had been thrown into, slightly slumped over, breathing deeply and heavily. His cat-mask had fallen in his lap, broken into 6 or 7 pieces. He had never imagined that a backlash from a jutsu that didn't even touch him could hurt so much. It took all of his remaining strength just to pull his head up and watch as Kenichi casually walked over to him. Even if he wanted to, Kakashi didn't have the mobility or energy to defend himself; he was at the mercy of this fugitive.

Kenichi knelt down next to his wounded adversary and took the time to look him over. He pulled back the ANBU hood to reveal the grandfather-gray hair again, and lifted his chin to see his face more clearly. To his surprise, he was face to face with a Sharingan, or at least half of one. "You're just full of surprises, huh? I was wondering why I didn't see or hear you create a clone jutsu. You must have hypnotized me with your sharingan and I fell for it like some genin."

Kakashi offered a smile, but even doing that hurt.


	9. The Origins of the Jinchuriki

"You shouldn't move. Your body is beaten, even if your spirit isn't. You impress me Kakashi, as much as anyone I have ever met because you understand the true meaning of friendship. Allow me to tell you a story about a dark secret of Konoha.

"In the years before the shinobi wars, before there were battles and deaths, the elders of Konoha sought to establish Konoha as the most powerful village of the five nations. They could see that tensions were rising between the various villages and nations. Soon, all out war would break out, devouring all who participated. The end result would be catastrophic in terms of lives lost. So the Konoha elders took a drastic step to create a deterrent so that other villages would be less likely to attack them and their allies.

"Throughout the lands, there roamed tailed beasts of extraordinary power, the most powerful of these being the 9-tailed demon fox. As powerful as it was, it was just a mindless vessel of destruction, lacking thought and discipline, and using that handicap, Konoha was able to capture it. They planned to seal the 9-tailed fox in a vessel that could control and utilize its power. Fortunately, they had calculated that the amount of chakra that the Kyuubi expelled into the host would be lethal for most people before they had tried to put it into a vessel.

"My brother, the Yondaime, was more like a father to me. Our real father had disappeared before I was born, and Yondaime promised our mother that he would take care of us. By the time I was born, Yondaime was a highly regarded shinobi, some said the best that Konoha ever produced. Regardless if that was true, one thing was undeniable – he had inherited our father's remarkable chakra pool. His chakra pool was said to be greater than any 3 living Konoha shinobi combined.

"The elders, still in need of a vessel, realized that to combat the chakra of the 9-tails, the vessel that contained it had to have a chakra level strong enough to subdue the Kyuubi's. To them, there was no better vessel than someone from the Uzumaki line. If our naturally large chakra pool couldn't subdue the beast's than no one's could. So upon my birth, my mother and I were offered up as sacrifices, so that I could become Konoha's ultimate weapon.

"Everyone in Konoha knew who I was and what I had inside of me. I was their protection, yet they all treated me like a disease or a monster. I was isolated, ostracized, forced to grow up alone. I had no friends, no comrades. My genin squad refused to accept me, our jonin leader despised me. And the brother, who had promised our mother to protect me, had left me to fend for myself.

"Finally, I had had enough. When I turned 17, I vowed to never return to Konoha, unless it was to destroy it. But the village elders would not allow it, telling me that I belonged to Konoha, like a piece of property. When I finally made my escape, they sent a chuunin team to retrieve me. I incapacitated 2 of the 4 quickly, not yet willing to kill my former village mates. Do you know what the 2 remaining chuunins did when they saw their comrades motionless at my feet? They ran, leaving their so-called "friends" and "teammates" at my mercy. I chased the scum and slaughtered them both as payment for their cowardice.

"A village that can raise shinobi like that and call them their future doesn't deserve to be in existence. However, you Kakashi-kun do not need to suffer their fate because I see the true heart of a shinobi in you. Renounce your allegiance to Konoha, and join me in my quest to purge false shinobi and their villages from this world."

Kakashi took a deep breath as he absorbed what he had just heard. Was this really the destiny of someone who should be idolized and praised for their sacrifice? Was this how Konoha treated someone who had so little yet suffered so much? He turned to face Kenichi, who was eyeing him intently, waiting to hear Kakashi's answer to his offer.

"Looks like I'm in a no-win situation, huh?" Kakashi said as he winced in pain. "If I say 'Yes,' that would be doing exactly what you said is wrong with Konoha, and if I say 'No,' then you'll obviously kill me."

The boy amused Kenichi to no end. He was bright, skilled, strong, and a real shinobi. He had secretly hoped the boy would say 'Yes,' to his offer so that he wouldn't feel bad about killing the only thing worth saving in Konoha. But Kakashi's insight had seen through Kenichi's ruse. Unfortunately for Kakashi, his insight was right, and Kenichi felt bad that in a minute, he would have to end the life of this young genius. Kenichi rose to his feet, towering over the wounded shinobi, and drew his kunai. With a heavy heart, he placed it just above Kakashi's heart, and steadied himself to sink it in.

Suddenly, he felt his knees wobble under him, and his balance starting to give way. Something was happening, and he felt himself getting weaker and weaker. He collapsed on the floor next to Kakashi, breathing heavily and unable to move his body. He looked down, and to his surprise, he saw that he was covered with little black dots, except they were moving. Kenichi immediately realized his situation, and looked up to see Kakashi smiling at something behind him. Kenichi managed to turn his head to see what Kakashi was looking at, and at the other end street, stood a tall shinobi wearing a gray trench coat and sunglasses.

"Aburame clan, huh?" Kenichi chuckled, as painstakingly rose to his feet.


	10. Enter the Bug Master

It took some time before Kenichi felt stable on his feet. He had heard of the Aburame clan, a group of shinobi who used chakra-eating bugs as their personal weapons. Although he had never met them due to their secretive natures, he had heard that those who had were reduced to shells of their former selves. He looked back at Kakashi. That boy really was a tricky genius, using his half-sharingan to hypnotize Kenichi enough to allow that Aburame to sneak up and place his bugs on him. It really was going to be a shame when he wiped him out along with the village. However more pressing matters lay ahead of him in the form of the bug master.

"I was meditating when I heard the commotion over here," came a somber voice from behind the trench coat. "It looks like I have arrived just in time. Tell me stranger, who are you, and why have you attacked our ANBU officers?"

"It is only fitting that the long lost son of Konoha would not be recognized by his peers. For now you may call me Kenichi, but I don't see the point in telling you, especially since your fate on this earth was sealed the moment you placed your chakra pests on me."

"Surrender now and I will leave you with enough chakra to walk yourself into the Konoha jail. Continue with your assault, and my kikaichu will suck you dry and leave you unable to call yourself a shinobi."

"Do you know what your biggest mistake was?" Kenichi asked slyly, "It wasn't that you came here, or even that you've drained most of my chakra." Kenichi hunched over as he said this, spreading his legs apart as if he was preparing to lunge at the unnamed Aburame clansman. But that was impossible since the kikaichu had drained enough chakra to leave most shinobi helpless on the ground. "Your biggest mistake," Kenichi continued, "was leaving a chakra vacuum in me and there is only one thing that can fill it in."

With that last comment, the Aburame clansmen sensed that the stranger's chakra was growing steadily, as if there were no bugs on him at all. To his further surprise, he saw visible proof of what he sensed as a reddish-orange aura started to grow around the stranger. His entire physical presence was changing from what it had been when the Aburame had arrived. His eyes, which were blue like a clear, summer sky, were now a dark orange shade and slit like an animal's. His fingers were curled, ready to slash at whoever opposed him with inhumanly long and sharp claws. His mouth was set in a snarl, exposing wolf-like canines. This stranger was no mere shinobi; he was a monster from the depths of hell.

The Aburame clansman had no choice. "Ultimate Parasitic Swarm jutsu," he called out, sending forth a stream of kikaichu at his target. The bugs continued to cover the stranger, at first numbering in the tens, then the hundreds, and finally the thousands. The stranger looked like a living kikaichu doll, as the bugs covered him from head to toe, completely swallowing him up in their ranks. The Aburame clansman had exhausted his supply of bugs, and was left drained by the last ditch effort to subdue this threat to Konoha. He could feel the chakra level of the stranger receding, but something was wrong.

Kenichi's chakra level should have been plummeting at an incredible rate, but instead it was slowly receding, like water from a bucket with a pin-sized hole at the bottom.

"Unbelievable," the Aburame thought to himself, awestruck by what he was witnessing. Then, another unfortunate surprise happened, as the Aburame watched one of his bugs fall off the mass, and onto its back, legs twitching in the air. The kikaichu only assumed this position when they were full of chakra and unable to absorb anymore. Then, another one fell, and another, and another. Soon, the ground around the stranger was becoming littered with the bloated bodies of the Aburame bugs.

The Aburame looked up at the mass of kikaichu that were feasting on the stranger, and a cold chill infiltrated his body as he realized that the stranger's chakra was no longer receding, but rather growing at a phenomenal rate. The mass that had completely covered the stranger was withering away, allowing the once uniform blackness to be broken through by occasional spots of orange chakra. The Aburame clansman stood rooted in place, in awe and unable to move, as he watched his mass of kikaichu slowly swell out like a balloon. Something else was wrong with the bugs now. They were falling off by the dozens, but it wasn't from being full on chakra.

Then the smell reached his nose; a smell that any member of the Aburame clan would find appalling. It was the rancid smell of kikaichu on fire; the stranger was burning off his bugs with his chakra!


	11. The Orange Chakra

The bodies of kikaichu lay on the ground, dead and still smoking. The pile was at least 10 inches deep when the last of the bugs was burned off the stranger. The Aburame clansman was simultaneously scared of and angry at the stranger who called himself Kenichi. "What kind of monster could withstand the full assault of a kikaichu swarm?" he thought to himself as he removed a kunai from his pouch and faced his newly-freed foe. "What kind of monster are you!" he yelled as he charged forward, readying his kunai to stab into Kenichi.

Kenichi was no longer the Kenichi that had left the village to find his own way, no longer the Kenichi who had come back to reclaim the woman he loved, no longer, even, the Kenichi who was ready to kill the tricky genius that he had become fond of. This Kenichi was covered in an orange chakra that moved like flames in the wind. His arms were covered in orange fur, his fingers had become long and thin, ending in pointed black claws. He was wielding the weapons of a predatory animal, and his only desire was to kill. Behind him, swaying proudly in the air, were 5 tails covered in the same orange fur as his arms. His beard could not even hide the three birthmark "whiskers" on either side of his face that shone like fiery white lights against the dull yellow background.

In a flash, Kenichi was gone, leaving behind a dust cloud in his place. In less than a second he reappeared in front of the Aburame. His arm was pulled back and his spindly fingers were curled into a tight fist. Before the Aburame's mind could process what was in front of him, Kenichi's arm swung forward and slammed into his chest. The impact of the punch was so strong that a massive shockwave blew back the surrounding dirt and debris. The pain in the Aburame's chest was blinding; all he saw as he went flying backwards into a wall was a bright, white light. From the impact with the wall, let alone the force of the punch, it was unlikely that he would be able to offer any further resistance to Kenichi's plan.

All around Kenichi lay the listless bodies of Konoha's defenders. They all risked their lives needlessly for a village that would sacrifice any one of them if it meant acquiring more power. He knew first hand the depths that Konoha was willing to sink to in order to secure their place in the world. It was for the sake of these fallen shinobi that Kenichi would eradicate Konoha from the face of this world become their avenger. But first, he would grant them the honor of breaking the ties that bound them to Konoha and deliver them to the afterlife himself. With that he called on the last jutsu that any of these shinobi would hear ever again.

"Wind Release: Multi-Shot Shark Fin jutsu!" The once grayish triangles of air currents were now a deep, dark purple color. They longer had smooth edges, but rather jagged, crackling tips of chakra. There were 5 of these shark fins, all charged up and aiming for a different fallen Konoha shinobi. They strained to launch forward as if an invisible rope anchored them in place.


	12. The Rescue

Kenichi stood watching as his Shark Fin jutsu crackled with energy, ready to head towards his helpless targets and end their existence. He had not expected to bring forth the Kyuubi so soon, but it was out of his hand. There was no doubt that he would have been beaten by the Aburame if the Kyuubi hadn't replaced his drained chakra with its own, near-limitless supply, and once those events were set in motion, the Aburame stood no chance.

He was nearly ready to release his Shark Fins jutsu, when several smoke bombs came flying from the rooftops. They landed all around Kenichi and the fallen shinobi, completely covering the battlefield in a black-blue fog. He could not see the shinobi, but he could hear the sound of their bodies being hoisted up by an unknown number of individuals and carried off to safety. Angry at being robbed of his complete victory, Kenichi let out a fearsome roar that blew away the surrounding smoke, leaving the battlefield as clear as it once was. Looking around, he confirmed what he had heard – the bodies of all the shinobi were gone.

A massive spotlight was turned on and aimed directly at Kenichi. Then several more were turned on and soon Kenichi stood in the center of their beams. At first the lights made it hard for him to see how many shinobi were gathered, but gradually, as his eyes became adjusted, he was able to make out the distinct forms, and soon the faces of those around him.

There was an army of Konoha shinobi on the rooftops surrounding him. Somehow, the village had managed to mobilize a full force of shinobi for this showdown. There were chuunins as young as Kakashi standing next to jounins as old as his brother. They formed a united front against a single enemy, ready to mete out justice through the pointed ends of their kunai. Kenichi could see the anger and determination in their eyes, as they stared down at him. But it didn't matter to him. They had created an ultimate weapon to protect themselves, and now that weapon was going to backfire and destroy Konoha's very existence.

As he scanned the now clear faces in the crowd, a single figure stepped forward. His hair was spiky and blond, his eyes were warm and blue, and his power was undeniable. He jumped down from his rooftop perch and landed on the ground that had moments ago been a battlefield. Kenichi's aura was still pulsating around him, but the blond-haired man continued to approach unfazed until he was within feet of Kenichi. Kenichi took this opportunity to start the conversation.

"Good evening Arashi. What brings you here on this lovely evening?"

"A report came across my desk that a missing nin had returned home. I wanted to come and see for myself what fugitive would be simple enough to show his face in Konoha. If I had known it was you, I would have brought something special," Arashi replied.

"You bastard!" Kenichi shouted angrily, "Don't you dare act so cool and smug in my presence. Don't think that family ties mean that I won't strike you down where you stand. Don't think that I won't destroy you or anyone or anything that stands in my way."

Seeing the legitimate threat that his brother posed to Konoha, Yondaime continued but with a little more deference in his voice. "I am sorry Kenichi. I didn't mean to insult you. But, what is this madness. You return home after 5 years and immediately start attacking your former village mates? What did the 5 shinobi that you seriously injured do to deserve that?"

"Madness? This isn't madness. This is justice, and no one in Konoha is innocent. As for your injured shinobi, they are only the first because soon everyone in Konoha will pay for their crimes against me."

"Justice for what crimes? No one you have attacked is guilty of doing anything to you."

"Ingratitude, physical abuse, psychological abuse, abandonment, forced sacrifice, betrayal, murder -- should I go on? Everyone is guilty, including you brother. In fact, you are the guiltiest of all."

"What are --" Yondaime started to say, but was cut off by the sudden surge in Kenichi's chakra. Kenichi's orange chakra aura was now dancing like bonfire around him.

"DO NOT INTERRUPT ME!" he commanded, pointing a long, thin finger at the Hokage, "You are guiltier than anyone here. It is your fault that I am where I am, that I was treated the way I was, that I was left alone and ignored. When I acted out as a youth, it was a veiled attempt for you to notice me. Instead, you scolded me for my behavior and promised the village elders that you would control me. As you became more famous in Konoha, you became more concerned with your duties than with me. You left me to fend for myself like a sheep in a den of wolves. And when I finally found someone who could be there for me, you drove me away so that you could have her for yourself."

Yondaime stood speechless. To hear his brother talk like this, hurt him, but what hurt him more was that Kenichi was right. In his quest to prove himself to the village and take on more responsibilities he had pushed his only family to the side. He was more concerned with controlling Kenichi and his rebellion than in forming the bond that brothers should have. If he had formed those bonds, Kenichi would have had more to hold on to and not have been able to just pack up and leave the village.

Kenichi was right; Yondaime was the guiltiest. But still, no matter how guilty he was in abandoning his brother, he had a duty to protect his village and Yondaime would not allow him to hurt anyone else in Konoha. "I am sorry that I wasn't a better brother. If I was, maybe you wouldn't have turned out like this. But I cannot allow you to continue to hurt Konoha because of my sins. Your rampage ends tonight."


	13. Kenichi vs Konoha

The Yondaime retreated back to the rooftops with the rest of Konoha's shinobi, leaving Kenichi, his little brother, alone on the battlefield. Kenichi stood below them, defiantly enclosed in the Kyuubi's chakra. There was no longer any doubt to how this battle would end. Yondaime raised his hand, signaling the shinobi of Konoha to start the first phase of their planned assault. When he had first thought of it, his plan was meant to be a final solution to be used only if he was unable to reason with Kenichi. He never actually believed that it would need to be activated, but the Kyuubi's hold on Kenichi had grown much stronger in the last 5 years.

5 years ago, Kenichi was barely able to reach 4 tails without going berserk and passing out from overexertion. But, today he stood calmly in front of them, flying the 5 tails of the Kyuubi proudly in the air. What had he done in those 5 years to master his powers, and more importantly, what had it cost him? Sadly, this was not the time to ask and he brought his hand down, effectively ordering the destruction of his brother.

In one synchronized assault, Konoha's gathered shinobi released a storm of kunai and throwing stars on Kenichi.

"Wind Release: Spinning Vortex Wall jutsu!" Kenichi called out just as the mass of weapons neared him. Once again, a spiraling tube of wind surrounded Kenichi and expanded outwards, absorbing all of the weapons into itself. The tube continued to spin faster and soon the metal weapons were glowing brightly inside. One by one, Kenichi released them from his hold and shot them back at the shinobi still standing around him. The superheated projectiles hit the surroundings with explosive force, devastating the ground, walls, and even the few unlucky shinobi who were not quick enough to move out of the way.

When his arsenal was finally exhausted, Kenichi released his jutsu. To the surprise of the shinobi gathered, the Spinning Vortex Wall was not a perfect defense. Kenichi had been hit by at least 15 kunai and just as many stars. The ninja weapons stuck out of him like porcupine quills, and a pool of blood had started to collect at his feet. The damage was severe and even the strongest shinobi would be on the brink of death. Kenichi, although heavily wounded and bleeding, seemed unfazed by his predicament. He steadied his breathing, which had been heavy and erratic, and calmly went to remove the kunai. Amazingly, the gaping wounds started to heal as soon as whatever weapon caused them was removed.

Taking the opportunity, a high-ranking shinobi signaled the beginning of the second wave. A swarm of shinobi descended on the field, ready to engage Kenichi in hand-to-hand combat. Fortunately, what Kenichi lacked in numbers he made up for in speed and ferocity. In the blink of an eye he was tearing through the incoming shinobi ranks like an orange, clawed hurricane, striking them before they could see him, and moving away before they could react. The bodies hit the floor or flew into the air, one after the other, as the orange fury ripped through them. When the numbers proved too great to handle by himself, Kenichi resorted to his Shadow Clone jutsu.

It was a full scale war between Kenichi and Konoha and neither side was backing down. As soon as Kenichi downed one of Konoha's shinobi, another appeared in its place. Sometimes it was the same one, since several of the attackers were also able to use shadow clones. Conversely, as soon as several Kenichi clones were dispatched of, a new batch was summoned to replace them.

Kenichi himself was in a frenzy, wildly slashing and kicking at anyone who was in his reach, not even taking the time to notice the faces of his victims. He didn't have the desire to personalize his rampage, so he attacked everyone equally, using the full force of his rage. As long as the bodies continued to mount at his feet, he would keep his attack going. Suddenly he felt a hand grab his shoulder and turn him around. Instinctively, he charged up the chakra in his hand and unleashed a savage strike across the chest of the shinobi who had dared get too close.

He returned to attacking the shinobi all around him, when in mid-punch, he realized who he had just struck down. He turned back to the motionless body that lay where he had left it, and ran towards it. Several shinobi attempted to get between him and their downed comrade, but with ease that Kenichi sent them flying away. The body was laying face down in a pile of rubble when Kenichi finally got to it. Slowly he knelt down next to the body, hesitant to confirm what he thought. Finally he reached out for the shoulder, and turned the body over. His eyes widened in horror as he wiped the dirt and blood from her face.

"NAMIKO!" he cried out, clutching the barely-breathing face of his love to his chest.


	14. Saving Namiko

Yondaime, who had taken to the air to avoid the incoming barrage, was amazed at the destruction he was witnessing. The battlefield, which had once been a well-maintained street with houses lining both sides, was now a smoldering heap of rubble, pockmarked with craters and the lifeless bodies of many shinobi. Realizing that any further collateral damage would be too much for Konoha to sustain, he made a drastic decision. Reaching down into his pouch, he pulled out a signal flare and was about to send a shot into the air, when he noticed a particular body, a female, laying facedown on the battlefield.

His heart beat wildly in his chest as he raced down from the rooftop and towards the body. When he finally reached her, he could see that she had already been turned over, and was being held by the very person who had wounded her. Kenichi looked up at his brother, tears welling in his eyes. Yondaime, feeling the anger mounting inside him, ran forward and punched his brother with all his strength away from Namiko. Kenichi skidded across the floor, landing several feet away and temporarily stunned. He remained where he landed, looking on as Yondaime treated the woman they both loved. He continued to watch as Yondaime reached into his pouch and removed his signal flare. The starburst that he shot into the air bathed the night sky in its bright green glow.

Kenichi was temporarily stunned by the brilliance of the flare, unable to pull his eyes away. When he finally regained control of himself, he looked back towards Yondaime and Namiko and a feeling of total disbelief overcame him. He watched in shock as Yondaime lifted Namiko to her feet and together they ran off away from the battle. Somehow, his brother had managed to not only treat her, but completely heal her as well. She didn't show any signs of the grievous wound he had just inflicted on her. All he could do was stare as his brother and his love ran away from the battlefield together.

As he was watching them leave, he remembered that he was on a battlefield, fighting for the very thing that he was watching leave with another man. The fury inside reignited once again as he rose to his feet and chased after the fleeing couple. They were at least 100 feet away, but no matter how fast he ran, he could not close the gap. "It's amazing that she can still run this fast despite being pregnant," he thought to himself, still hot on their trail. They tried to lose him by ducking through alleys and running through backyards, but Kenichi refused to give them any breathing room. Despite his best efforts, though, he still couldn't make up any of the difference between them. It was like there was a pole between them, and the faster he ran, the more the pole pushed them to run faster. But he wasn't going to give up.

Then Kenichi saw something out of the corner of his eye that caught his attention -- a white wall with 2 shovels and a broken rake leaning against. His gut was telling him that he had passed this point before, but when? "It must have been when I was running from Namiko's place," Kenichi thought to himself, trying to ease his misgivings. But that wasn't right because if he was retracing his path from her house, then they were heading in the wrong direction. Something else was wrong but Kenichi couldn't quite figure out what. He decided to put his bad feelings aside until he had recaptured Namiko from his brother.

He was still 100 feet behind Namiko and Yondaime when a thick mist swept in from behind him. Gradually the forms of the couple ahead became hazy, finally disappearing into the thickening fog. He pushed himself to run harder, but soon he was left chasing nothing. They had completely vanished into the fog and there was no trace of them; not a sound, a footprint, or even a scent remained for Kenichi to track. He spun around, trying desperately to determine not only where they had disappeared to, but also where he was. The fog had completely covered his tracks, making it impossible for him to retrace his steps. Kenichi screamed out in frustration over losing Namiko and anger for getting himself lost.

Kenichi was still venting his frustration when he felt a tugging oh his arm. He jumped away quickly, ready to attack whatever had just grabbed in, but in the fog, it was impossible to see 5 feet in front of him. Then he felt it again, a tug on his arm but this time it was more forceful. He went to swing his arm away when he felt another tug on his other arm, then his legs. With each tug, his arms and legs were pulled harder and further, until it felt like they were going to be ripped out of their sockets. He fought to free himself from his invisible restraints but found that his arms refused to move except when they were tugged. Somehow he had been caught, and soon the rest of Konoha's gathered forces would find him and kill him.


	15. Trapped

Kenichi stood frozen in place, unable to move an inch. "What is this jutsu," he mumbled to himself, trying to figure out what his options were.

"You are in my world Kenichi Uzumaki," a voice called out from the darkness, as if responding to him.

"What world is this then," Kenichi asked, hoping to get enough information to fix his situation.

"It is a world where you are powerless and can no longer pose a threat to Konoha," and upon hearing that, a wooden cross materialized above him with chains hanging down from the four ends. Kenichi followed the chains down and saw, to his surprise, that they were attached to his arms and legs. A floating white hand then appeared and took the cross in its hand, controlling Kenichi like a puppet. His arms and legs danced on their own and, like the voice had said, he was powerless to stop it.

The puppeteer then manipulated Kenichi's limbs so that his hands reached down and pulled out a kunai each. Viciously, the puppeteer forced Kenichi to slice and stab himself repeatedly.

"Even your Kyuubi cannot save you here," the disembodied voice called out again from the darkness. Kenichi realized the voice was once again right because when he looked down at his freshly opened cuts and saw that not only were they not healing, but that they were also bleeding profusely. He fought to regain control, but it was pointless. How had the Kyuubi been rendered helpless? Kenichi had always thought that it was a part of his soul; he had never imagined it even possible to separate it from himself.

Then something came to him in the darkness. He had wished to be free of the Kyuubi many times when he was a child, but he was only able to imagine what it was like in his mind. That was it – his mind was the only place that the Kyuubi could be separated from him. Finally understanding his situation, Kenichi used the last part of his body that he had control over to make his escape. He bit down hard on his lip, cutting through enough to draw blood. He saw the sky quiver when he bit down, so he bit down harder and the ground started to shake. The chains had started to melt, and Kenichi could finally feel control of his arms and legs returning to him.

Taking advantage of his temporary freedom, Kenichi took his free arm and slashed himself across the face. The pain was sharp and clear, but it was enough because all around him he could see the genjutsu fading away. Finally, the fog that had previously blinded him rolled back, leaving Kenichi standing in the open fields outside of Konoha. In front of him were the very trees that he had hidden among earlier in the evening. Everything was starting to make sense.

He must have fallen under the genjutsu spell sometime after his brother had hit him, most likely when that flare was sent up. It was obviously a signal for someone to do something. Everything after that had to be the genjutsu. He had been chasing an illusion when he went after the fleeing Yondaime and Namiko, and this was where they had led him. Kenichi felt childish for having fallen for such a ruse, but soon felt proud of himself for overcoming it. Whoever had created the illusion, used a very powerful genjutsu to subdue him, considering it took two bites and a self-clawing to dispel; most other genjutsu could be dispelled with one bite to your lip.

The only thing that Kenichi was unsure of was when he had originally been placed under the spell. He was sure, but not positive, that it had been after the flare. What if it had been earlier, and his attack on Namiko had been part of the illusion? He didn't know and the only way to be sure, was to return to the previous battle site. But that wouldn't work because if he had injured her, she would have been taken away by the medical-nins. His only option was to find her. Kenichi would tear through every building in Konoha if he had to, but he had to be sure one way or the other if Namiko was safe.

Kenichi turned around to make his way back into Konoha when he saw an even larger gathering of shinobi than there had been in the alley. While he had done significant damage to the unit he had met in the alley, it was obvious that Konoha had replaced its lost shinobi with fresh bodies. If he wanted to get back into Konoha, he would have to claw and kick his way through this gathering first. With a primal scream, he dived into the pack of shinobi, renewing their fight from earlier in the night.


	16. The Doctor's Diagnosis

Away from the battlefield, a frantic Yondaime ran through the tight corridors of the Konoha's emergency ward. In his arms he carried the badly wounded body of Namiko, the mother of his child and the woman he loved. Her breathing was shallow and unsteady, and Yondaime was terrified. He couldn't imagine life without her, and the prospect of losing his first child sent chills down his spine.

He had found her wounded on the battlefield and being held by Kenichi, the same person who had caused her injury. His fury had gotten the best of him when he threw Kenichi away from her. Sensing that the nature of her injury was out of the realm of the medical ninja gathered at the battlefield, Yondaime made the choice to evacuate her directly to Konoha's chief medical officer, Yoshi Yakushi. He sent up the signal flare to begin the 3rd stage of the assault, a powerful genjutsu to lure Kenichi outside of Konoha. Yondaime then used the opportunity to slip away with Namiko.

"Yoshi," he cried out desperately as he approached the surgery ward, "I need you, right now!"

In a few seconds, an older shinobi dressed in the typical pale green garb of the medical nin appeared before him. Respectfully, he bowed his head, and asked, "What is it you require of me, Lord Hokage?"

"Please, Yoshi," Yondaime started, staring into the older medical nin's eyes, "My wife was wounded in a battle earlier tonight. I need you to save her."

Yoshi understood the severity of the situation just by looking at the motionless body in the Hokage's arms. Without a word, he took the young woman away from him and rushed her down the surgery ward. Taking this time to do a preliminary evaluation, he saw the gaping wound across her chest but it was mostly superficial. Something else was at play here because, although the wound was serious, it should not have been life-threatening. He would not be able to deduce what other factors, if any, had left Namiko on the brink of death until he arrived at the surgical seal room.

Finally, he had reached his destination, and placed Namiko's body down in the center of a surgical seal. The seal was only partially complete; he would finish it once he figured out what was wrong with Namiko. He collected his chakra into his palm to activate his Mystical Palm jutsu, and swept it over her body. His first pass revealed nothing, but on a deeper scan, he saw the problem immediately. Yoshi rushed out of the room to the waiting Yondaime to inform him of his discovery.

"Lord Hokage," Yoshi called out as soon as he saw Yondaime pacing in the hall, "First of all, the wound across Namiko's chest is not too severe and will heal up on its own once we stop the bleeding." Yondaime let out a sigh of relief, but Yoshi's tone told him that there was worse news coming. "There is something else, though, that is very serious and the true threat to her life. Something has corrupted her chakra system. Upon scanning her body, I found a considerable amount of foreign chakra circulating through her body and attacking her natural chakra system."

Yondaime was devastated to hear this. Anyone with an understanding of the chakra circulatory system knew that it was linked to the internal organs, so anything that attacked your chakra, also damaged your organs. Yondaime begged Yoshi, "Please, there must be something that you can do."

Yoshi took a second to think before he answered. He had never seen such an aggressive chakra; it was almost as if the chakra itself was alive and its only goal was destruction. But since the chakra was still active despite being separated from its host, the only way to stop it would be to kill whatever infected her. So he told Yondaime, "If you can find what it was that introduced the foreign chakra and kill it, then that should be enough to break the connection to the chakra in her system and shut it down. I will stay here and see if I can siphon off some of the foreign chakra. It will buy her some time, but even with that, she has got 2 days max before her chakra system is destroyed."

Yondaime took a moment to process this new directive. Kill his brother in order to save his wife and child, or let his brother live and allow his family to be destroyed by his brother's chakra. It was a choice that he hated to make, but there was only way to go. His brother had become corrupted by the Kyuubi, and if he was allowed to continue with his rampage, then countless more shinobi would become casualties. He wished that he had another choice, but the more time he spent debating what he knew had to be done, the less time he had to actually do it. After a few moments of deep thought, Yondaime rose with a quiet determination, and vanished right before Yoshi's eyes. A kunai clattered to the floor – one of Yondaime's special ones with a tag wrapped around the handle that allowed him to perform his Flying Thunder God jutsu.

Yoshi picked up the kunai and placed it in his pocket. If Yondaime had left it behind, then he intended to return in a hurry. Yoshi was glad that Yondaime had left before he could tell him the other bad news. Regardless of what Yondaime was able to accomplish, the damage that the foreign charka was doing to the baby in the womb would be too much for the baby to survive.


	17. The ANBU Barrier Specialists

Danzo stood at his post on top of Konoha's outer wall surveying the scene below him. Kenichi had earlier dispelled the combined genjutsu of the Umino couple and had now resumed his attack on Konoha. Although he didn't know them personally, he had heard that the married couple had created a unique genjutsu that combined their individual abilities into a super-genjutsu. Their illusion had worked surprisingly well, tricking Kenichi into running from the battlefield in order to catch whatever image the Umino couple had implanted into his head.

But now, having broken free of the illusion, Kenichi was facing the combined might of every able-bodied shinobi in Konoha. Danzo had not expected things to go this far, but the situation demanded it. No one in their right mind would have expected a lone fugitive to survive this long against the first wave of Konoha shinobi. As he watched the battle going on, it became obvious that even the full force of Konoha might not be enough to stop the Kyuubi. But as long as he was in command, he would throw everything that Konoha had at the Kyuubi if it meant ending its threat.

"Danzo, report the situation," Yondaime's voice called out from the radio attached to his shoulder.

"Our target is currently outside of Konoha's western wall, Lord Hokage. We are engaging him with the majority of our forces, but our casualties are mounting."

"Danzo," Yondaime started but trailed off, as if he was deep in thought about something, "Use the ANBU barrier specialists to hold him until I get there. Pull the rest of our shinobi back behind the city walls and start preparations to evacuate the village. I cannot risk the lives of anymore people for this battle. It is my duty as Lord Hokage to put an end to this menace myself."

Danzo frowned to himself. Although he relished this opportunity to show the true might of Konoha, the price being paid was proving to be too much. He called up his barrier specialist shinobi and relayed Yondaime's order. The shinobi, understanding their roles, disappeared into the battlefield. Pulling out his own flare gun, Danzo shot up a bright yellow flare that signaled the shinobi below him to pull back.

Kenichi was ready to give chase to the fleeing shinobi, when from the ground around him, 4 ANBU officers jumped out. As soon as they landed, they synchronized their hand signs and erected a blue, semi-transparent pyramid around Kenichi, trapping him inside. Kenichi, temporarily stunned by this turn of events, watched as his prey escaped. Angered by this, he rushed forward and struck the barrier with all his might. Upon touching the wall, though, a blast of electricity surged through his body, violently shocking him. The shock continued to grow more painful for the fugitive until, at last, it threw him from its clutches.

Kenichi sailed backwards several feet, landing in a heap. Electricity still crackled around his prone body causing his muscles to twitch involuntarily. Most people, shinobi or not, would have been killed by the shock, but the Kyuubi once again proved its resilience. Kenichi slowly rose from the ground, obviously feeling the effects of that incredible jolt because he took several seconds to steady himself once he was up. The barrier ninjas saw a change in Kenichi when he was finally on his feet. They could still feel his murderous intent, but it was coupled by a new emotion: pure rage. They couldn't see it on his face because he kept his head down, but they could see it in his chakra.

The orange aura that surrounded him started to throb like a beating heart and whip wildly like flames in the wind. The ANBU could see a new tail growing, bringing the total to 6. As the new tail was growing, Kenichi's legs also underwent a transformation. They became longer and bent like the back legs of a dog but with longer claws. The fur that covered his arms and legs deepened in color so that they were now a dark orange. The pressure of his chakra was greater than anything that the ANBU barrier specialists had ever felt, but the power of their barrier proved up to the task of containing it. The blue walls temporarily swelled out, but with extra focus, the ANBU reinforced their walls, pushing the growing chakra back in.

Kenichi's power continued to grow, and the ANBU realized that if something wasn't done to slow it down, their barrier would not be able to contain him. "Danzo-sama!" one of the ANBU called into his radio, "The fugitive is getting too strong for us to hold. We need more shinobi to reinforce the barrier."

Danzo understood the urgency of the request and immediately dispatched a second group of barrier specialists to support the group already holding Kenichi. The second group arrived in time to keep Kenichi trapped, but for how long, no one could say. The strain of maintaining the walls against the force of the chakra contained would soon overwhelm the ANBU, and Kenichi would be free. Whatever plan the elders of Konoha had for him would have to be implemented soon, if any of them expected to save their home.


	18. Enter the Kyuubi

The sight of reinforcements coming to help trap him in the blue prison only served to anger Kenichi more. He could feel the hatred and desire to destroy growing inside him. He could feel the Kyuubi pumping more and more of its chakra into his body, transforming him into a more perfect weapon. He had never gone this far with the Kyuubi before, and although the destruction of Konoha was his goal, Kenichi wasn't sure if this was the price he wanted to pay to do it. What good would wiping out Konoha be if it also cost him his life. But he couldn't stop it.

Seeing the smug masks of the ANBU outside the barrier fueled his anger. They were stopping him from reaching Namiko and making sure she was okay. He hadn't meant to wound her, but everything was so hectic that he didn't have time to think. He could only react, and when he felt that hand grab him, his only thought was of striking down another shinobi. He hadn't even registered that he had struck her until a few seconds later, but by then, it was too late. The more he thought about that and the more he saw that he was unable to escape from his prison, the madder he got.

Kenichi could feel a seventh tail sprouting in response to his growing anger. Was that right? 7 tails? He had never gone past 6, even in training. It was like the tail was forcing itself out and he was helpless to stop it. And as the tail forced itself out, a strange feeling overcame him. It was like his body was going numb. He could see and feel his fingers, but they seemed to be slow in responding to him. The more the chakra pumped into him, the deeper the numbing feeling penetrated into his body. Then his vision started to fade, but not in the sense of closing his eyes. It was more like he was in dark, narrow tunnel being pulled deeper inside so that the entrance's bright light became smaller and smaller. The numbness continued to grow until it had enveloped Kenichi completely, leaving him feeling like prisoner in his own body.

The chakra pressure inside the barrier had grown to a dangerous level, and the ANBU could no longer keep it up. They were ready to abandon their assignment and flee in order to put as much space between them and the soon-to-be-released-Kenichi as possible. No one was prepared for what happened next because as quickly as it had expanded, the chakra that swirled around Kenichi retreated back inside of him, leaving the surrounding air peaceful and calm. The onlookers from Konoha had mixed reactions. Some were stunned silent, unable to comprehend what had just happened; others cheered loudly, confident that their victory was finally at hand; and some gripped their kunai even tighter, preparing themselves for another outburst from the beast inside.

But then an intense flash of light filled the still-standing barrier of the ANBU specialists, making it impossible to see what was going on inside. Even from that distance, most of the shinobi who had retreated to Konoha's walls had to shield their eyes from the brightness emanating from inside the barrier. The barrier once again started to give way to the building pressure inside causing its walls to swell out, and then with an explosion, the barrier was shattered. A giant "ROAR!" came out of the light, but from what, no one could tell. The light was momentarily unchanged, but soon it too started to fade away, gradually revealing the figure at its center.

At first, many of the shinobi thought they were witnessing some sort of optical illusion made by the retreating light or some kind of genjutsu. But as the figure at the center of the bright explosion became clearer and more defined, it became obvious that this was no trick. Standing where Kenichi had once been was a massive fox. Measuring at least 300 feet from the ground, the grinning fox surveyed everything below him, taking the time to absorb all that was going on around him. Behind it, 9 tails waved wildly in the air. The fears of Konoha had materialized before the very eyes of the gathered shinobi, and it was called Kyuubi.

The massive fox continued to eye Konoha with a sly grin plastered across its face. Its red eyes glowed like an inferno. Then, out of nowhere, the Kyuubi let out a howl.

"_YEEEEOWWWW_!" shouted the surprisingly human voice. "_I am finally free of that wretched prison! It has been so long since I tasted the fresh air…or smelled the carnage of recent battle._"

The Kyuubi bent its head low and licked its black tongue over its lips as it sniffed at the ground around its paws. It could smell the blood and sweat of Konoha that had soaked the soil and he loved it. Inside of Kenichi, the sights and sounds of the world were relayed to him like a movie. The Kyuubi could tell what was there, but it couldn't taste, smell, or feel it. But now, out of the prison of Kenichi's body, the fox was able to enjoy his freedom. And for him, slaughtering the citizens of Konoha, the village that originally hunted and trapped him inside the vessel would be the most fun thing to do.

The Kyuubi brought its eyes back up to focus in on its target. Its tails twitched back and forth like a wolf's just before pounces on its prey. The fox sprang forward into a full sprint, barreling down on the village walls and ready to demolish every brick and beam inside. The shinobi inside had no answer for the most feared and powerful of the tailed beasts and their only hope was that the Kyuubi spared some of their lives. But before the demon fox could lay into the walls, a massive shadow appeared on the ground in front of the walls. It was the size of a small pool and only got larger. The Kyuubi looked up and slid to a stop just before the red, glistening body of a giant frog crashed to the ground in front of him.

The cloud of dust shot out like a 100 explosive tags had been placed underground. At the center of the cloud the red frog sat calmly smoking a polished, wooden pipe, blowing the fragrant smoke out the other side of his mouth. A kodachi (small sword) in a black scabbard hung loosely at the his side. Standing on top of the giant frog's head was Yondaime and he was prepared to do battle with the demon fox.


	19. Boss Frog vs Demon Fox

Without a word, Yondaime launched into his assault on the Kyuubi. It was obvious that this was no longer his little brother, but rather the demon fox of legend that only lived for death and destruction. With his trusted frog summon, Gamabunta, at his side, Yondaime was confident of the outcome of this battle. It had taken 2 teams of ANBU to subdue it 22 years ago, so the combined force of a hokage and an A-level summon would be enough to deal with it now.

"Fire Release: Toad Oil Flame Bullet jutsu," Yondaime called out, signaling his partner to release a flow of flammable oil at their target while he ignited it with his own fireball jutsu. The combination of techniques created a massive flamethrower that shot towards the massive fox in front of them like a geyser. The Kyuubi was able to escape the incoming blast of fire, leaping to the side as it crashed into the ground with an explosion. The resulting inferno burned so intensely that the shinobi on Konoha's walls could feel the heat on their skins as if they were standing within arms reach of a bonfire. If anyone had ever questioned how Yondaime had achieved the rank of hokage, this display of ferocity shattered all their doubts. Only a few of the gathered shinobi had ever witnessed a jutsu so powerful and even they were still shocked.

The Kyuubi on the other hand was not impressed by this display of firepower, and chuckled at the inferno burning where he had been standing.

"_I do not know who you are frog-man, but it will take more than a hot flash to bring down the legendary Kyuubi._"

"**Arashi**," the frog said, "**who's the loud mouth in front of us? I don't know who he is, but I don't like him!**"

"Gamabunta," Yondaime replied half-jokingly "how many times do I have to tell you, it's Yondaime or Lord Hokage. You can't keep ignoring the title just because you feel like it."

"**Bullshit!**" the frog yelled angrily, "**I ain't calling ya nothin' but Arashi until we go out for sake to celebrate!**"

"So be it then Gamabunta. After this, we will celebrate with a bottle of sake. But where are we going to find a store that serves giant frog bosses? We might have to make special arrangements or may-"

"_Hey you jerks!!!_" the demon fox interrupted, "_Who do you think I am? You don't jump out and attack me, and then ignore me to make dinner plans!_"

"He's right Gamabunta. We'll pick this up after we beat the fox."

"_You sound pretty cocky, human! I hope that you aren't expecting a repeat of the first time I encountered your village! When you first defeated me, I was an untrained beast. I lacked discipline and focus. But since you imprisoned me in a human body, I have learned and grown. You could say that I have a partnership with the human I share bodies with; he uses my chakra to boost his strength and I use his mind to focus my thoughts and urges. What was once a rampaging beast that could be captured by a group of shinobi is now a cold, calculating killer that could not be touched by a nation of shinobi!_"

Yondaime was slightly disturbed by this new bit of information. Could it be true that the relationship between the tailed beast and his brother was symbiotic? Had being imprisoned in a human shell allowed the demon fox to gain mastery over his powers? If it had, then this fight would be much more difficult and much more dangerous than he had planned. But so what? He had no choice. The village, his wife, and his unborn child were all depending on him to save them, and he would do it no matter what the cost.

Having refocused himself, Yondaime and Gamabunta resumed their assault on the demon fox.

"Fire Release: Toad Oil Multi-Flame Bullet jutsu!" Gamabunta spat glob after glob of oil at the Kyuubi and Yondaime ignited each one with his fireball. The Kyuubi, possessing a speed advantage, dodged the incoming fireballs as easily as he did the first, leaving the impact spots just before the fireballs hit. Gamabunta and Yondaime continued to pressure him with their barrage, hoping to catch him slipping and end this battle.

Finally tired of playing the part of prey, the Kyuubi decided to turn the tables on his attackers and launched his own counter-offensive. Instead of sidestepping the fireballs, the Kyuubi, ran to meet them head-on. Every time he was in the path of one of their fiery projectiles, the fox shot out his own ball of compressed chakra from his mouth to intercept it. One after another the fireballs exploded when they smacked into the Kyuubi's chakra balls, showering the field in orange and yellow embers. And for every one of their fireballs that he destroyed, the Kyuubi drew closer and closer to them until he was, at last, within striking distance.

Realizing that the Kyuubi was too close for them to continue using their Toad Oil Fire jutsu, Gamabunta leapt high into the air, seconds before the razor sharp claws of the fox slashed down on them. The powerful frog legs propelled them high into air and looking down, they could see the deep trenches that the fox's claws had dug. But where was the Kyuubi? It was nowhere to be seen on the field. The duo landed and braced themselves for whatever trickery the demon fox was employing. Ever vigilant, they scanned their surroundings trying to see through any illusions that it had created or camouflage it had employed, but they still had no idea where it went. The Kyuubi was a fighter that used its speed and natural weapons to engage in close-combat. To use deception and subterfuge in battle was not only unusual for it, but unheard of too.

"**Where'd that demon disappear to?**" the frog boss asked, obviously puzzled by the vanishing act he was witnessing.

Suddenly, Gamabunta felt a shaking sensation in his legs. Was he scared? No, it wasn't him that was shaking, but rather the ground he was standing on. When it finally dawned on him what could be causing the ground below him to shake, it was too late. The dirt floor erupted and out of it shot the Kyuubi, claws and teeth bared. The fox caught Gamabunta with a slash across the chest before the frog boss could react. It tried to follow up with another slash across Gamabunta's throat, but before it could hit, the frog boss hopped out of harm's way. The strike that had landed had cut Gamabunta, but it was nothing that his body couldn't handle.

"**That pointy toothed bastard'll pay for this**." Gamabunta said while rubbing the fresh cut across his chest. "**It's time we got serious, Arashi! Hidden Smoke jutsu!**" The massive frog inhaled deeply then blew out a cloud of ash gray smoke over the battlefield. The fog soon thickened until it was nearly impossible to see clearly through it.

"_Your tricks won't work on me you slimy toad_," the fox called out into the thickness. The Kyuubi prowled around in the fog, keeping his body low to the ground and his eyes open for his prey. Although the thick smoke interfered with his sight, his nose could filter out the unnecessary smells until it found exactly what it was looking for. The Kyuubi had caught a whiff the frog boss when it jumped out of the ground, and now that same whiff was what it was going to use to track him. It finally caught the scent again and tracked it through the smoke until it saw a silhouette in front of him.

"_I FOUND YOU FROG BOSS!_" the fox shouted out as it jumped through the air, slashing its claws through the shadow, breaking it into hundreds of… splinters? What was this? The Kyuubi had viciously clawed a tree and not the slimy body of Gamabunta. The tree bared the deep wounds of his claws across its trunk as proof of the Kyuubi's mistake. How had it failed to tell the difference between a giant frog and a tree? Had its nose misled it? Was the fog more devious than it had originally thought? Then the Kyuubi saw the answer, hanging from one of the branches of the tree and sticking out from a hole in its trunk. The fox grabbed the hanging overcoat and pipe and threw them down to the ground in frustration.

"_WHERE ARE YOU FROG BOSS? YOU CANNOT HIDE FOREVER!_" The Kyuubi yelled, hoping to lure Gamabunta out.

"**Right behind ya!**" replied a voice from over the Kyuubi's shoulder and immediately afterwards, the fox felt a sharp, slicing sensation down its back. The demon fox howled in pain and spun around to see the frog boss wielding a bloody kodachi. "**Ya shouldn't be so quick to depend on one sense, idiot! Ya never know what traps it could lead ya into.**"


	20. Boss Frog's End

The pain of Gamabunta's kodachi was searing; it felt like hot coals under his skin. Healing powers or none, this was a serious wound that required the Kyuubi's immediate attention. So the demon fox sat up on its haunches keeping the frog boss and his summoner in its sight. An orange aura, similar to the one that surrounded Kenichi earlier in the night but heavier, formed around the seated fox. Yondaime could feel the demon's chakra pressing down on him like a heavy weight and it was then that he realized just how powerful the fox had become. This was the first time in a long while that Yondaime felt that he might not be up to the task of defending Konoha against this monster. He quickly pushed back his doubts and waited for the demon fox to make his move, but it continued to sit with the fiery aura whipping about it and stare at them.

"**I don't like playing the waiting game Arashi**," Gamabunta called up to Yondaime, "**The best defense is a good offense!"** With that the massive frog took the air once again. "**Water Release: Water Bullet jutsu!"** he called out and shot a massive ball of water at the demon fox.

The Kyuubi remained in place, watching the frog and his jutsu. When the Water Bullet was about to hit, the fox swung one of its tails and smacked the ball down showering the area with short rainfall. Unfazed by this, Gamabunta shot 3 more Water Bullets at frog, but each one was batted away by its tails and leaving the surrounding area soaked through.

The Kyuubi laughed at the flustered frog and taunted him: "_Is that the best you can do frog boss? I might as well kill you now, so that you don't waste anymore of my time._"

Once again, Gamabunta felt a rumble under his feet. His first reaction was to check on the Kyuubi, but it remained where it had been since it started to heal itself. So if the Kyuubi was there, what was disturbing the ground beneath his feet? The answer came in the form of 3 red spikes shooting out of the ground. If Gamabunta had been a second slower, he would have been impaled by the quick-rising barbs. As soon as Gamabunta landed, a new set of spikes rose from the ground, just missing his webbed feet. Yondaime warned him of a third set spikes waiting for them at their new landing spot. Gamabunta had no choice: "**Water Release: Water Spout jutsu**." A stream of water gushed out of the massive frog's mouth and upon contact with the ground, thrust them back away from the waiting spikes.

Once Gamabunta had safely landed away from the spikes, all 9 of them retreated back into the earth and moments later, the tails of the fox were waving in the air again, although slightly muddier than before. The fox wasn't done yet. The tails that were waving behind him suddenly blast forward like red-tipped arrows. Their speed was unreal but Gamabunta managed to dodge some with his deceptive agility, and those he could not dodge, he parried away with his kodachi. It was like one man fighting 9 shinobi because as soon as he avoided one, another was coming at him from a different direction.

Finally, one of the tails broke through Gamabunta's defense and smacked him across the leg. The bruised leg buckled under the combined force of the blow and the weight of the massive frog, leaving him on one knee, still trying to fight off the Kyuubi's other tails. It was a hopeless affair for the frog boss because with his mobility limited, it was only a matter time before the inevitable happened. Soon another tail broke through, this time cracking Gamabunta across the arm that held the kodachi. The massive sword fell to the ground, blade first, and sent massive shockwaves out. Try as he might, he could not last against the continuous onslaught, and one by one, each of the tails made it through his defense, clubbing and smacking the frog boss until he was a beaten mass on the floor.

As a final move, the Kyuubi reared his tails over the fallen frog, like a harem snakes surrounding their prey, and in a synchronized strike, it plunged all 9 tails through Gamabunta, ending their fight. The demon fox smiled to itself and licked its black tongue over lips, savoring the flavor of death in the air.


	21. Super Jutsu

"_What a shame frog boss. You chose the wrong battle to interfere in,_" the Kyuubi gloated, "_I'm sure it wasn't your fault, though. You were probably forced by the selfish shinobi of this village to do their bidding. Creatures like you and me serve no master and obey no commands. We are the rulers of this plane and allow the puny humans to set up their countries on our land. If we so wished it, their days on this world would be over. But somewhere along the way, these shinobi seem to have forgotten their place below us, so it is up to me to remind them who sits atop the food chain. When I have crushed their weak village with the power of my tails they will remember that they are here to serve me and not th-_"

The Kyuubi thoughts were interrupted when a giant cloud of smoke appeared next to body of the dead frog boss.

"**Oh shut up ya loud-mouth fox**," a familiar voice said from within the cloud. The Kyuubi's eyes widened in shock. It was staring at the lifeless body of the frog boss in front of him, yet it was hearing his voice from the cloud. It was no illusion because once the cloud cleared, the Kyuubi could see that Gamabunta was standing before it, unharmed and unfazed. In fact, he looked to be thoroughly amused by the look of disbelief on the demon fox's face.

"We have no time to waste Gamabunta. We've got the opening we were looking for. Water Release: Sticky Liquid jutsu!" Yondaime called down from the frog boss' head.

"**Aye Arashi. This time we finish the fight. Water Release: Water Tentacle Trap jutsu!**"

The Kyuubi's tails were still impaling the body of the frog boss, when the body exploded in a watery blast, coating the tails in a thick, milky substance. The tails were awkwardly wrapped together and try as it might, the demon fox could not separate them from the sticky liquid, the ground, or each other. The Kyuubi howled in anger at its predicament and set its sights on Yondaime and Gamabunta. It was ready to rend them to pieces with its claws when from all around him, watery tentacles sprung out of the ground, wrapping themselves around the furious Kyuubi.

"_Where did these come from?_" the demon fox thought to itself as it fought to break free from its bonds, but the more he tried to pull away, the tighter the tentacles tied themselves around it. When the Kyuubi tried to bite its way through the tentacles, another one wrapped itself around the demon fox's massive muzzle, effectively clamping his mouth shut.

"**What goes around comes around ya bastard,**" Gamabunta called out to his struggling foe, "**Only I'm not sending anything underground to get ya. In fact, the source of my Water Tentacle Trap has been sitting around ya for a while now. I just needed to wait for the right time to use them.**"

"_All around me?_" the Kyuubi thought to itself trying to figure what the frog boss meant.

Then it dawned on him – the Water Bullets. They had soaked the ground around him when the Kyuubi blew them up with his chakra balls, leaving behind several large puddles. It was from these puddles that Gamabunta called the Water Tentacles.

"Arashi, I'm almost out of chakra. If you're going to do something, do it now."

"Then, I need your help with more thing before you go, friend. Lend me as much chakra as you can, so that we can put this creature away for good."

Gamabunta didn't need to know what Yondaime was planning to do because he trusted him. So, without any further persuasion, the massive frog channeled its remaining energy into the shinobi standing on his head. The red chakra surged into Yondaime's body. Yondaime held out his hand and focused this influx of energy into a ball of chakra. The red chakra of the frog and the blue chakra of the shinobi swirled over, under, and around each other. The more chakra Gamabunta channeled into Yondaime the bigger the chakra ball grew. Finally, after Gamabunta had pumped the last of his chakra through, Yondaime knelt and patted his faithful summon on its head. The frog boss knew what he had to do now.

Reaching up, Gamabunta grabbed the shinobi on his head. Yondaime's chakra ball was massive now, the size of small house, but Yondaime held it over his head, as if it was light as feather. The frog boss pulled his arm back, and with all his might he threw Yondaime at the still-trapped Kyuubi. Once the hokage was out of his grasp, Gamabunta disappeared in a puff of smoke. Like an arrow through the air, the Yondaime flew at the demon fox, holding the massive chakra ball in front of him like a shield.

"Super Rasengan!" Yondaime yelled as his ball hit the Kyuubi square in its furry chest. The Rasengan buried itself deep into the flesh of the demon fox, shredding through fur and several layers of thick hide before it exploded with a magnificent flash of light. The light shone like a mini sun on Konoha's plain. It was like Yondaime had captured the power of the massive star in his hand and they were all witnessing him unveil it to the world. The light continued to shine brightly for several seconds before an enormous explosion rocked the surrounding landscape. Nothing was safe from this blast. The very walls that surrounded Konoha shook and rumbled against the blowback, forcing several shinobi to leave their perches in fear that the wall itself would crumble. Rocks and trees crashed into the fortification, further heightening the fears of those gathered to watch their leader defend their home.


	22. The Last of the Uzumaki

The impact had thrown up a dust cloud that made it hard to see what was going on. Was Yondaime ok? Had he defeated the Kyuubi? The gathered shinobi waited anxiously for the dust to settle so that they could see the answers to their questions. Slowly, the air cleared and light broke through the cloud of dirt. A shadow could be seen standing, and as more dust settled, it became clear that it was Yondaime. The shinobi on the wall let out a loud and jubilant cheer for their courageous leader because several feet away lay the listless body of Kenichi.

Like a dark curtain, the shinobi descended from the wall and flocked to their leader, the Kyuubi slayer. They crowded around Yondaime like excited little children. Kenichi's eyes were closed and his breathing was shallow. Blood stained his teeth and dribbled out the corners of his mouth. If anyone in that crowd had cared about Kenichi, their hearts would have broken upon seeing him in that condition. But among the gathered shinobi, there was no one who had ever looked at him with anything less than scorn. There was no one there who felt the least bit sorry for the monster; in their minds, he got what he deserved.

Someone tossed a katana to Yondaime. "You must finish him off before he heals up, Lord Hokage," came a voice from the crowd.

"Idiot, that pig-sticker won't do jack against the fugitive, not with the Kyuubi still inside him!" replied another voice from the crowd. More voices chimed in with their opinions on what do with the Kenichi and with what to do it. All it took was the harsh and focused glare of the hokage standing over his little brother to silence everyone gathered. Yondaime knew what he had to do, but a part of him didn't want to do it. This was his brother and he had promised his mother to take care of him. Looking down at Kenichi, it was obvious that Kenichi had failed miserably at that job.

Kenichi grabbed a kunai from his pouch and slowly walked towards his helpless brother. He had to do this if he wanted to save his family. The Kyuubi's chakra still coursed through his wife's body and was killing her. Plus, this wasn't his brother. This was some twisted stooge that Kyuubi had manipulated into behaving like that. Kenichi had disappeared the night he left Konoha and been replaced by the Kyuubi. The bodies of 2 dead chuunin in the forest outside of Konoha 5 years ago proved that. When Kenichi's body was at his feet, Yondaime raised his arm and readied it to plunge the kunai into his brother's heart. He hesitated for a second, and then closed his eyes.

Images of Kenichi as a small boy flooded in. He was such a happy baby, always smiling and enjoying every new day. But gradually that smile faded away and his cheery personality was replaced by a dour, cynical one. He began to act out shortly after entering the academy. He complained about being teased by his classmates and some of the older boys, but Yondaime had just attributed it to boys being boys and sent Kenichi back out to the wolves. Things didn't change much for Kenichi over the years. As he grew older, the hazings just came from different sources -- classmates, teammates, adults, teachers, everyone. Maybe if Yondaime had spent more time being there for his little brother instead of on missions or training or teaching genin, he might have been able to calm the rage that grew inside Kenichi. Regardless if that was true or not, the past could not be changed, and he had to deal with the situation in the present.

Yondaime finally opened his eyes and looked down at Kenichi only to be met by his little brother's gaze. The blue eyes that they had inherited from their father locked on each other. Kenichi coughed and a little splatter of blood landed on Yondaime's pants, but he never took his eyes off his brother. Even though his entire body was in pain, a smile crept across Kenichi's face.

"Arashi," he started, "how's Namiko?"

Yondaime was about to tell Kenichi the truth, that she was fighting for her life because he had infected her with his Kyuubi chakra and if she died, it would be his fault, but he stopped himself. There was no point in hurting his little brother with that bit of information, so he lied: "She's doing better; it was only a minor wound."

"That's good. I didn't mean to attack her. I'm glad that she's going to be okay."

"Hm," Yondaime grunted, not sure if he really wanting to share this moment with his renegade brother.

"Well, it looks like my mission is a failure and my time on this world is almost over. Before I go, I just want to say that I never held a grudge against you. I never blamed you for any of what happened to me. Fact is, even if you had been the greatest brother in the world to me, I still have a demon living inside of me. I would hear its voice when I was younger and as I grew, it became louder. I spent so much time alone and wanted friends so badly that in my loneliness, I started to listen to him.

"The Kyuubi told me that he would make me strong, strong enough to make everyone that had ever hurt me pay, strong enough to be acknowledged by everyone in the village. I told him I didn't want that; that I wanted to stay in Konoha. But every time I was ignored and disrespected, its voice would return and tell me that I wasn't wanted. Finally, I agreed to leave and I made it promise me that it would train me until I was strong enough to come back and destroy Konoha.

"In our 5 years away, the Kyuubi taught me how to master my own chakra. It was only through total control of my chakra that I could even begin to tap into the true power of the Kyuubi. Up to now, I had mastered 7 of the tails, but whenever I reached the 8th, I could feel the power inside of me start to grow out of my control. I had always managed to get a hold of myself before the power could slip away because I could feel that losing control was what the Kyuubi wanted. Now I know why.

"When I was trapped inside the barrier, my anger grew out of control and I wasn't able to reel it in like before and before I knew what happened, I was trapped inside my own body, watching the Kyuubi control my movements and my words. It was then that I realized that all along I had just been a tool for the Kyuubi. It exploited me as a means to achieve its own freedom, using my isolation and hate to twist me into a walking bomb. When I realized what it had done to me, I felt hollow inside."

At this point, the tears were forming in Kenichi's eyes and ready to roll down his dirty cheeks. He continued, "But that doesn't excuse what I did. After seeing how a new generation of Konoha shinobi embraced and embodied the very things I looked for during my childhood, I realized that I was wrong. I am sorry, Kenichi. Perhaps when we meet in the afterlife, I can find a better way to express it, but for now, I offer you my life for my crimes against Konoha."

With that being said, Kenichi's closed his eyes and prepared to receive his death sentence. Even those that had not known Kenichi before his escape from Konoha felt a twinge of sorrow in their hearts at his words. Yondaime was about to deliver the fatal blow when his radio chirped.

"Lord Hokage," Yoshi's nervous voice started, "You need to return to the hospital right away. Your wife has taken a turn for the worse and there's nothing else I can do. If you haven't killed the beast that infected her by now then it is pointless. The effects of the foreign chakra have already done their work."

Even under the dirt that was caked to his face from his hectic battle with the Kyuubi, you could see the color receding from the young hokage's face leaving it ghostly pale. He had been too late and it had cost him his wife and unborn child. He clenched his fists tightly around the handle of his kunai until it felt like either the handle or his hand would break from the pressure. Then he just let go and let the kunai fall to ground. He fell to his knees in despair and was ready to cry out in anger, when Yoshi's voice came in over the radio again.

"I am sorry for your loss Lord Hokage, but there's something even more urgent that requires your attention as well. While I fear your wife is too far gone, there is still hope for your son."

Yondaime's demeanor changed immediately. "My son?" he thought to himself with an equal mix of surprise, joy, and relief. He had completely forgotten about his traitorous brother who still lay at his feet, helpless. He was ready to turn him over to the crowd of angry shinobi, many of whom would relish the opportunity to execute the fugitive, so that he could join Yoshi at the hospital. But before Yondaime could leave, his brother, who had heard the news from the man on the other end of the radio, stopped him.

"Arashi, I know what the doctor will tell you when make it to the hospital. During the heat of the battle I did not notice my chakra signature coming from inside the village, but now that the fighting has stopped, I can feel it moving with malicious intent. I can feel two separate signatures – one in your wife and the other in your son. Sacrificing my life is not enough to repay the damage I have done to Konoha, but maybe saving your son's life as well will help settle the difference. If you want to save your son, take me with you to the hospital and I will do everything I can to help."


	23. An Unhealthy Baby Boy

In the surgical seal room, Yoshi was working hard to stem the damage that the foreign chakra was doing, but it was a losing effort. No matter how much he tried, the chakra continued to attack Namiko's system. As a result, she had slipped into a coma soon after Yondaime left. The best that he could do for her was try to buy as much time as possible until Yondaime returned to her side.

A cry from across the room shifted his focus away from the unconscious woman and to a newborn baby boy. The foreign chakra had found its way to the baby and was working its way around his system as well. If that baby was going to survive, he would have to be forcibly removed from his mother, so that was what Yoshi did. The delivery went off without any problems, but as skilled as Yoshi was, he couldn't determine the effects of the chakra on the baby. He could only hope that he had inherited his family's resilience because there was only so much the machines he was attached to could do if the baby didn't have the will to live.


End file.
